Essay
by speed killz
Summary: Negi assigns a paper to the class, and they have to describe two emotions that they feel often. Konoka's paper offers a surprise when the heading reads "Love/Lust" ...Who's it about, I wonder?
1. Chapter 1

Essay.

Negi laid back against the pillow, and set the folder on his lap, opening it. Yesterday he had assigned the class a small task. They had to write about two feelings or emotions that they often felt, why they felt them, and what they liked about those feelings and emotions. They had handed them in this morning, and now that class was finished, he had some time to mark them. He shuffled through them, and glanced at a few of the students' papers, looking for the obvious ones he knew to be poorly written.

Eva-san, he knew, probably hadn't done the assignment, but he had seen her handing a paper in, so he was curious as to what she wrote. He found her paper, and was surprised at the length of the assignment. It was only supposed to be half a page long, but hers filled the page, and took up half the backside. As he read, he discovered that Eva was actually quite frustrated with her existence, and having been trapped in her child body for so long, she was slowly losing hope of ever having her curse removed. However, the paper said, when Negi came along, things slowly seemed to brighten, and get better, and now she had a glimmer of hope, whereas, without Negi, she never would have. Negi was actually quite surprised that Evangeline would admit to being frustrated and lonely, then describe how her attitude had come along and changed for the better when he had started teaching. He smiled, and flipped it over to read the back. It was a continuation of the front, and summarized her whole essay, then, Negi read the last three lines.

_Now that you've read it, burn it! Keep your mouth closed, or I will drain your whole life's blood! No one must know that I've written this! Don't test ME!_

Negi smiled, and put her paper aside. She had obviously put a lot of effort into it, yet despite that Negi knew she would be embarrassed if people read it. He decided that she would get a high mark indeed, and flipped through a few more.

Among the other students, Kaede's jumped out at him, as she described her training, and the two feelings she had picked were the feelings of wholeness and completeness that she got whenever she trained. She always felt so good during and after training, and she said that there were no two better feelings in the whole world.

He picked through a few more, and among Sat-chan's description of the joy she got from cooking, and the happiness she got from the looks of enjoyment of the faces of the people who tasted her cooking, there was also Ku-Fei's paper.

He struggled through the broken english, but the more he read, the easier it was to understand. She wrote about her chinese martial arts, and the two feelings she got most from them were a huge sense of strength, and confidence. She wrote about a time before she practiced martial arts, she wasn't too strong, and her confidence wasn't that high, but when she started training, she found immense strength, and a complete confidence that was almost impossible to under-mine today. She wrote about how it was the wisest decision she had made, starting martial arts, and said that it had improved her mind, body and spirit beyond anything else.

Negi flipped through a few others, before he landed on Konoka's paper. He blushed, reading the title, for printed in big block letters were the words "LOVE/LUST"

Negi wondered for a second what she was doing submitting something like that, then remembered that he had announced that he didn't care what kinds of feelings or emotions they were, as long as they were ones that were important and played a role in their lives.

He looked at the 1/2 page full of neat writing, and decided to read it.

_We were asked to write about two feelings that we had experienced, and that played a role in our lives. I, Konoka Konoe, chose the two feelings of love and lust. First off, I do love many people, whether they be my friends, classmates, or even my teacher. (Hi, Negi-kun!!) However, this is an amiable love, and is akin to friendship, there's no deep love there. But there is someone I love more than that, someone I love more than I'd ever love anyone else, a different love than the kind I feel for everyone else. This love is the kind that I'm doing my essay on today, and it's this love that I feel every day and it's this love that influences my choices, and drives me to do better at everything I try. This love, I describe it as an attachment to someone's emotional attributes, a yearning for their heart. The thoughts they have, the thoughts they share, their intellect, their dedication to their arts, and their kind words to me, their actions, the way they show that they care, all these things are things that I love about this person, and are the reason I love them. _

_Lust is also a feeling that I have almost every day, but it is not for many people, it is not even for a few people, it is but for one person, and it is that same person I love, that is the person I lust for. This lust, I describe it as a yearning for this person's body. It has nothing to do with how the person thinks, or acts, or even how they treat you. It is a physical desire for that person's body, and it is a powerful emotion. It is a straight forward need for that person's body, and has everything to do with their body, and nothing to do with their mind and heart. It is a powerful need to be close to that person's body, to touch it, embracing both their sexuality and your own, exploring them as they've never been explored before. I often lust for a single person, sometimes so strongly that it is difficult to control, but my love for that person always overpowers it, and in the end I end up thinking about that persons thoughts and feelings, instead of their body._

_Love and lust can both be single emotions, one can exist without the other; to love is to care about someone because they are special to you, and they treat you kindly, and you want to return the favor; to lust is to want only their body, and is a terrible, but at the same time, awesome feeling. Relationships can be built on pure love, or on pure lust, and they can last, both can be happy, but me, I'm content with both, I think they keep each in check, making sure neither emotion becomes too overwhelming._

_I both love and lust for a single person, and I'm content with that, but sometimes...sometimes I wish she knew just how much I love and lust for her._

Negi smiled, and decided that she too would have a very high mark. There was just one thing that was bothering him...He decided to just write a note on the back of the paper, and she would see it when he handed back their assignments with their marks on it.

_Excellent paper, Konoka, very well written. Only one thing jumps out at me though, and that's the fifth sentence. You should never start off a sentence with the word 'but', because that's a joiner word, and is used to conjoin sentences. Excellent effort otherwise!!_

A/N: Just a short idea that came to me late at night, hope you enjoyed it. Please review.


	2. Setsuna's Essay

Essay, Chapter Two.

Negi glanced over Nodoka's, and was glad to see that although her main dominant feeling was uncertainty, and hesitation in the face of men, and many other obstacles, she was also slowly starting to experience confidence, and was becoming more and more aggressive, more able to stake a claim to what was hers, so to speak. Negi smiled, and was glad that she was coming along and overcoming her difficulties.

Negi looked over Makie's, Asakura's, the twins' papers, and everyone else in the class, and he had comments and constructive critisizm for all, but they all did extremely well. After all, it wasn't just a paper to find out about their feelings, it was giving them a chance to write in english, and improve their english sentence structure. That was the real purpose of the assignment. Negi once again picked up Konoka's paper, and reread it, seeing if there was anything else he had missed. It didn't appear so, and the comment he had included was accurate.

Negi set aside Konoka's paper, and looked at the one underneath it. It was Setsuna's, and that made sense, for he had watched Konoka and Setsuna walk up together, to pass in their papers, although Konoka wasn't letting Setsuna see what hers said. The reason why was now all too obvious, he thought.

Negi started reading it, curious to see what kind of emotions an expert swordswoman felt day to day. What was written contrasted sharply with his expectations, and was something he had not forseen.

_Every day I feel immense, overwhelming fear. Despite being a graduate of the Shinmei School, I cannot help but fear, for I wonder every day if my skills are enough to protect the one person that means the most to me. It isn't overwhelming all the time, but it is always there, whether it be a nagging feeling wondering if my protectee will be attacked between classes, or the slight twinge of fear I feel whenever someone manages to sneak up on us, although it is usually always Ku Fei, or Kaede. I don't mind the fear though, even though it is a feeling I live with every day, and it is expected to wear me out eventually, it only makes me stronger, sharper. I take the fear, and think, what could I do to be less afraid? The answer is always more training, more sharpening of the senses, and this drives me to become better than I am now. Still, the fear never leaves, and I will never want it to, for the day the fear leaves, is the day I've dropped my guard, and it could be the day someone close to me gets hurt, or worse, I embrace the fear, for it is one of the most comforting feelings I've ever felt._

_Another major feeling that is always with me is awe. Never have I imagined that I would get the chance to protect someone so important, the one person whose magical powers may dwarf everyone else's. Awe that someone as lowly, as unimportant as myself has been chosen to protect her. Awe is another emotion that I often deal with on a day to day basis, for every day I see the one I've been chosen to protect, and I stare in awe at her beautiful face, her carefree attitude of which I'm so envious, the way she moves, how sweet she is..._

_Every day I walk hand in hand with fear, and awe, and never have I ever felt bored or tired from those emotions. They linger around me so much, they seem to be a part of me, and I think that I wouldn't be quite the person I am today if I didn't have those two emotions. _

_Negi-Sensei, I apologize for the short length of this paper, but I'm not quite as adept at writing my feelings as I am at using my sword. _

Negi thought about the paper for a minute, and he could see that she deserved an A for effort. However, just as with Konoka's paper, there was only one thing that was bothering him.

_Setsuna,_ He wrote, _When you write "Still, the fear never leaves, and I will never want it to...", and you come to the part where you talk about embracing the fear, that feels like a run-on sentence. Try inserting a period where that comma is, and you'll do fine._

A/N: I thought a bit on what two feelings Setsuna could carry with her all the time, and coming up with one of them as fear seemed a bit contrary to her character, but I wanted to portray her as a character who was not only strong enough to admit to being fearful, but resourceful enough to use that fear, instead of being overcome by it. Also, her second feeling just had to be something to do with Konoka, because we all know that's all she ever thinks about...:D Please read and review.


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